The password I was choosing should be plenty strong for this.
As far as the admins go, why not make them have more stringent requirements but reasonable requirements for normal users?

I strongly dislike how paranoid many Unix users/advocates are about security. My memory is quite poor so remembering complex passwords is next to impossible especially for sites I would rarely log in to. My only other option is to use a password manager (which is insecure)

Whenever using services across the Internet, password requirements are anything but pointless. Especially here on Savannah, not only can a password leak breach your own account, but if this occurs to an administrator who has a weak password, it can also jeopardize the entire system.

The error messages returned could be slightly more informative, but it does not excuse bad password habits.